


in the middle of the rainbow

by uberwaldian_connection



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, F/F, Fluff, Magic, background swan queen, magic school au, witches in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 15:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14897153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uberwaldian_connection/pseuds/uberwaldian_connection
Summary: Zelena’s magic is powerful and focused, like a flood breaking trough the dam. It feels like standing in a field just before a storm, the wind blowing in your face, raw energy circling around you, overpowering you, taking you with it. When Zelena uses it to its full extent, Belle feels drunk on magic just being in the same room.or,the one where they are teachers at a magic school





	in the middle of the rainbow

**Author's Note:**

> It seems like every time I have an important exam I end up writing Wicked Beauty. Oh well. This is pure fluff because it's pride month and I'm allowed to make everything as gay and as soft as I want. Also if you like it, please check out my twitter @youvebngilmored for similar attitude.

_i. fall_

Zelena’s magic is powerful and focused, like a flood breaking trough the dam. It feels like standing in a field just before a storm, the wind blowing in your face, raw energy circling around you, overpowering you, taking you with it. When Zelena uses it to its full extent, Belle feels drunk on magic just being in the same room.

Belle’s magic is just as powerful, but it’s softer around the edges, spreading in all directions like the warm light of a candle. It entices you and captures you, slowly, before you realize. It’s like floating on the surface of a lake with your eyes closed and arms spread wide. Belle feels it everywhere, in her skin, in her fingertips, in her toes – a warm cocoon of energy clinging tightly to her body.

Their magic never clash. It’s surprising, really, how the two energies work together, how easy it is to combine the flows, to feel the rise of power between them. They were cautious, at first, afraid of how the spells would turn out, how the potions might explode, how the air could become heavy and charged with unexpected negative energy, threatening to combust any time. But their combined magic is gentle; their spells just as good, the potions just as carefully crafted.

Belle thinks this is the ultimate proof that they _work_ together. Zelena wishes she could believe her. The yearning in her eyes is sometimes too painful to watch; Belle notices how she sometimes stops her hand mid-movement, afraid to move it these last inches, to complete the gesture, to cross a boundary that was never even there.

Usually when it happens, it is Belle who closes the distance between them, who grasps Zelena’s fingers in her own and closes her palm and  _squeezes_ , the gesture being an unspoken sign of trust, of consent. It’s meant to say  _I am here and I want this,_ and when Zelena’s face breaks in a cautious smile, Belle’s heart flutters. 

Zelena is a whirlwind of energy and her assertiveness levels are through the roof – but even after all this time, she doubts her feelings. Or maybe doubts Belle’s feelings. She has made a place for herself in this world, in this school,  in her academic field, but there is still a part of her that cannot believe she is really wanted anywhere. 

Sometimes when they are curled together on the couch and Zelena makes a move, Belle will cling a bit tighter to her, pretending she’s a bit sleepier than she really is, and she would mumble,  _please don’t move just yet,_ and sometimes she would hear the smile in Zelena’s voice when she replies. 

–

_ii. winter_

They both stay in the castle for the winter holidays. Not many teachers have decided that, this year – there is Zelena and Belle, and Headmistress Mills, because she has to, and Professor Nolan, and Professor Blanchard, and Professor Swan. Zelena, Regina and Belle are here because they love having the castle almost to themselves – the rest, because they don’t really have a place to go.

“Yule is for family,” Emma Swan said one evening over a hearty cup of Firewhisky. She then smiled, but it was more of a grimace that made Zelena’s heart ache. “And since I have none, I can at least pretend to be family for my students.”

“Do you like children, Professor Swan?” Regina asked her, which surprised everyone, since up to this point she had been sitting in her chair, clutching her mug of warm wine and staring off into the distance. Zelena knew that in those moments, she was reminiscing about her lost husband and the child she almost had.

Emma looked at her for several beats and then shrugged and looked down into her cup.

“I always got along with them, at least.”

And now it’s Yule, the castle is decorated, the candles lit up, the dinner is being cooked in the kitchens, and the atmosphere is significantly lighter. There are some students spending the holidays at school, and the effort is made mainly for them. Regina has even thought about personalized gifts for them, picked with help from their friends, that will be waiting at the dormitories after the feast. Zelena thinks it’s something their father said, once, about that giving might be better than receiving, but receiving is quite okay as well, that struck a chord with her.

She thinks about the present she’s picked up for Belle and about the ring that’s hidden deep in the drawer, waiting for the right moment. Her eyes are again drawn to Belle’s ceremonial gown and once again, she can’t help but admire how utterly stunning Belle looks in it. The rich red compliments her skin – with her hair drawn back and her eyes sparkly, she looks like she commands the fundamental powers of the universe.

The dinner is long but lively. There is some music playing, the food is amazing, and everyone is determined to have a good time and laugh as much as they can. After a few hours, the people gradually start to leave until it’s only a four of them – Belle, Zelena, Regina and Emma – sitting around the table. Belle doesn’t comment the way Professor Blanchard and Professor Nolan disappear together, but she squeezes Zelena’s hand under the table, and that is their cue. Emma and Regina are talking quietly, and it looks as if they might be arguing, but Zelena is too eager to get out of here to care.

They are holding hands the whole way to their rooms, and Zelena is so happy, almost drunk on warmth and pleasure, that she thinks she might cry. Belle notices; her brow furrows and she’s almost asking _what’s wrong,_ but Zelena leans down and kisses her, in the middle of the empty corridor, because it’s Yule and they are _both here, together,_ and when Belle smiles against her lips she think her heart might burst from happiness. 

-

_iii. spring_

Although it is Belle that’s more decisive, more open with her affections in their private lives, as a teacher it is Zelena who is more popular with students, simply because her classes are more lively. Potions, with its high probability for mix-ups and explosions, is easily more exciting than Theory of Magic, however important the last might be.

Sometimes Zelena wishes the students could see and appreciate Belle’s passion for the subject – the interest with which she talks about the Spell Foundations and Sigil’s Theorem and various other things that are so niche that Zelena can’t even begin to explain them. Belle loves the old, thick books, dusty and smelling of library, loves to surround herself with them. Her office is an organized pile of ancient volumes, scrolls, loose pieces of parchment and letters made into origami. 

The origami was made by Zelena, who likes to curl up in one of the armchairs by the window and just sit there, with a book of her own or some paper to occupy her hands, and spend her time as Belle is reading, working or grading tests. Belle’s office is on the second floor, with a view over the crystal-clear lake nearby and distant mountaintops that are covered in snow year round. The sunset looks spectacular here, and the fading orange light casts fuzzy shadows on the paintings on the walls, and it is one of the most relaxing views Zelena has ever seen. 

Zelena’ s  own  classroom is… well.  A dungeon. It’s cold and smelly and it takes a lot of effort to warm it to acceptable temperature s and magic enough lamps to disperse the shadows lurking in the corners. But it’s sturdy, and that really counts when a cauldron blows up more or less once per day. Belle goes down there, sometimes, when her own office becomes t o o hot or when she wishes for a moment of privacy away from the prying eyes of the students...

Like she does now.

“If we were students, I would have to give us both a week in detention for sneaking into an empty room for a snog,” Zelena smirks, but doesn’t try to pull away from where she is pressed against her desk in quite a state of dishevelment. It’s a boring Thursday afternoon; Belle was feeling particularly frustrated with her third term and in desperate need of a distraction. Now they are half leaning on Zelena’s desk, with hair in disarray and robes almost off and Zelena is thankful that she’s taught her students to never open her door without explicit permission – a rule that was implemented after an unfortunate accident with a Smoking Ears potion and some overly curious twelve years old. 

Belle only tightens her grip on Zelena’s waist and smiles against her collarbone.

“Well, _Professor,”_ she says in a low voice into Zelena’s neck and feels the other witch shiver. “I wouldn’t want you to neglect your duties… What do you usually plan for detentions?”

“Not this,” Zelena replies weakly and pulls her closer and _closer_ until they are a warm mass of limbs and hair and smell and, good Merlin, has this desk _always_ had so many sharp edges…?

The door creaks – in panic, Zelena pushes Belle away, which makes her curse when she hits her toe on a leg of the table and if that wasn’t bad enough, they are still alarmingly underdressed.

“Professor Green, Professor French,” Headmistress Mills says coldly. Beside her, Professor Swan’s eyes are sparkling with mirth and Zelena sees how her arms are shaking with barely contained laugh. “I only came her to remind you that there is a staff meeting this afternoon. 6 PM, the main lounge. I would suggest arriving more… covered.”

By now both Belle and Zelena are watching her with horror mixed with just a tiny bit of defiance. Thankfully, Regina is equally uncomfortable and promptly leaves, almost dragging Emma with her, who for some reason can’t stop grinning until the end of the day.

–

_iv. summer_

When August comes, Zelena and Belle are in their cottage by the seaside, waiting for Regina’s arrival. She has spent July in France at a course in Modern Transformative Spells – something Zelena still can’t quite grasp, with her sister being the most Conservative In The Old Craft witch she knows – and now is joining them for a week for a well-deserved relaxation.

The cottage is small but cozy, just a fifteen minutes bike ride from a nearby village. It has a small garden where Zelena grows her herbs and plants for the potions, and two enormous bookshelves to contain all the books Belle swears she would need for the summer.

Zelena loves this place, with its windows facing the sea, the cool and spacious kitchen, the creaking floorboards and faulty plumbing. She loves the sunrises and the sunsets, and the breeze, and even the storms. She feels small in the face of the force of nature, here, and she feels the energy flowing through her, around her, around this house. Here she is a witch more than anywhere else in the world.

She’s sitting on the terrace, reading a book and waiting for Regina to arrive. It’s a late afternoon and the sky is  the most vibrant shade of blue. 

Suddenly she feels Belle’s fingers tangling in her hair and gently massaging the scalp around there. She closes her eyes and nearly purrs in pleasure, and she likes to imagine the soft smile on Belle’s face.

“Your sister is arriving,” Belle says, and there is a trace of laughter in her voice that Zelena finds surprising. “She’s just coming down the road.”

Zelena opens her eyes and turns to look at her. Belle’s hand drops from her hair. She’s smiling, looking very young and carefree in her “non magical” shorts and shirt.

“And she’s brought a visitor,” Belle adds and when she looks properly amused, Zelena realises with a relief that it can’t be her mother. Cora Mills is always a welcome guest in their home, but she has a tendency to grow restless very quick and destabilize the lazy atmosphere of this place.

And so when a minute later a nervous-looking Regina appears on the doorstep with a relaxed and smiling Emma Swan trailing behind her, Zelena thinks,  _this will be_ _not bad at all._


End file.
